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Lami with high school championship trophy for St. Mary's in Bombay. |
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Mombasa G.I. Girls' netball team vs. Tanga. (Laura, kneeling far right) |
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Lami (goalie) with St. Marys' hockey team in Bombay |
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Mombasa G. I. hockey team. (Laura set record). |
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On the podium with Phila Fernandes and Joanita Noronha for the 220 m. at the Coast Annual Championships in Mombasa.
By Laura Ramos
My sprinting career began ever since I could walk. I was
the only girl in a family of
four boys. For four years, I seemed to
be an embarrassment to my older brothers, as I was shy, awkward, and spoke only
Portuguese, Kiswahili and understood Konkani.
They kept running away from me anytime I tried to tag along. I had no friends, and always hid behind my
mother when her friends visited us. So I
spoke very little and became a good listener and learned by rote. My greatest joy was to run, climb trees, and
play boy games – gilly-danda, marbles, seven tiles and whittling wood to make
toys. I could make catapults from
scratch and dabbled in kite making.
Four years later my third brother was born
and two years after him a fourth, sealing my destiny to become a tomboy and a
tough one, too. The first day in school,
I was a misfit. I cried when I had to
leave my brothers, and take my place in the kindergarten class, with a stern
teacher at the front. I began sniveling
non-stop, until the teacher got fed up, seized my hand, and marched me to my
older brother’s class. He was
embarrassed and angry, but seemed ready to protect me if anybody made fun of
the situation. I wowed then, that I
would never embarrass any of my family again.
So I shut my mouth and absorbed every lesson. That year, I took the first prize in English
and loved it. School became fun, and
learning became my ‘best friend’! My classmates
noticed my skills in Physical Education and sports. I had a trove of good friends, some of whom I
keep in touch with to this day.
In 1960, my father, who worked for the
Medical Department, was transferred to Mombasa where he worked at the Government
Hospital on Salim Road. It took him
about 30 minutes to get to work from Hobley Road. My brothers were enrolled in the Goan School
in Ganjoni and I was enrolled at The Star of the Sea School on Salim Road near
the Goan Institute. My school was co-ed
from Kandi to grade 7. I graduated with
a grade I Cambridge Overseas Certificate.
I then studied at the Coast Teacher Training College. It was here that I had the chance to play
netball, and gymnastics was a part of Physical Training. Two years later, I was selected by the
Principal of the Arab Girls’ School to teach at the newly opened facility
specializing in Physical Education. The
students had never been to a public school before, and they were faced with
many challenges and a close eye was kept to make sure strict Muslim rules were
adhered to. Many were natural athletes,
and welcomed the protection of high school walls so they could remove their
‘burkas’ (head and body cover) and participate freely in all physical
activities.
In my teens, I joined the Coast Athletic
Club (Achilles Club) run by Coach Ray Batchelor. Albert Castanha, Seraphino Antao, Pascal
Antao, Alfred Viana, Phila Fernandes, Joanita Noronha and Meldrita were some of
those that trained with me. I took part in the 100m 200m sprints as well as the
shot put, long and triple and high jumps.
After school, I corrected student work
and prepared lessons for the next day.
Then I walked with my sports bag 800 yards away to a track next to the
Goan Institute Club sports field. All
alone, I warmed up doing stretches, then practiced starts and sprints ending
with jogs and cooling down exercises. By
5:00 p.m. I removed my spikes and walked
to the club pavilion where my fellow field hockey players were gathering for
practice. There I formed two teams and
began practicing skills needed to be competition ready. By now there was a group of male experts to
help with coaching.
I then went to
nearby badminton courts to work on game skills for singles, doubles and mixed
doubles. I followed these routine most
weekdays. I travelled to other states
for competitions and to play against rival teams. I was selected as Sportswoman
of the Year 1962.
I met my husband, Lami, in 1960 when he
came from Dar-es-Salaam after East Africa and other states got their
independence from Britain. He played
football and field hockey for St. Mary’s School in Bombay and for the Goan
Institute in Dar-es-Salaam. It was
destiny that brought us together. It was
a difficult time as many government workers were losing jobs to indigenous
people. This is when Lami proposed and I
accepted, determined that we could begin life together anywhere. He went to Dar-es-Salaam to work in the
private sector, and after finding an apartment; we set our wedding date and
were married in April 1964. By this
time, Lami was working for Alitalia Airlines.
We made two trips to Rome with our first and then 2 boys. I worked as a teacher at a model school
attached to the Teacher Training Center where I met Helen Alpert. We became good friends until she finished her
contract and returned to America.
In 1969, we were
allotted green cards to immigrate to America after a 4 year wait. Our trip to France took hours. From Paris to New York 8 hours, where we were
snowed in for two days. At the home of Lami’s
Italian friend based in New York, “Mummy, and look! It’s Christmas!” yelled my
oldest, seated at the window. He had
seen a Christmas card with a picture of drawn curtains opening to a snow
storm. After two days, the plane took
off on the flight to Los Angeles and then to Santa Ana, California. As I stood with my family at the door of the
plane, I had an indescribable feeling of peace and freedom, the warm sun
bathing us with Hope. Our friend, Helen, greeted us with open arms. We had kept in touch, and when she heard that
we were going to settle in NY, she had written,
“That’s a
concrete jungle! Come to
California.” She had set up our
apartment down to flowers in vases with a group of friends.
Lami got a job
with Western Airlines a year later (a 45 miles, one way commute to LA). I went to college at night, working part time
at schools to pay for it. We made time
for tennis and badminton. We have kept
up a schedule for workouts at the gym. We
talk about the past with nostalgia with many friends that have settled here,
not only from Africa, but from Bombay and Goa as well. We meet many in Toronto at reunions of the
Goan School. Thanks to social networks,
we keep connected. Many have passed
away, but the yen to make the connections is alive!
My thoughts on Sport
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